Jonah Christensen Memorial Scholarship

At our tenth annual Magical Evening fundraiser in 2018, we were pleased to announce the beginning of the Jonah Christensen Memorial Scholarship, an annual scholarship of $1000 to be given to one student each year to help fund their post-secondary studies. This scholarship was created by the Christensen family in memory and in celebration of Jonah’s kindness, curiosity, mischievousness, and energetic drive to live life to the fullest. We hope this annual award will encourage youth to reflect on these qualities as they look toward their future endeavours.

2019 Jonah Christensen Memorial Scholarship:

Applicants will be required to submit a 750-word essay on the year’s topic by to celebratejonah@shaw.ca, by the submission deadline. Applications should have the subject line “Scholarship Application” and include their name, age, phone number, current high school and intended post-secondary institution.

The application period will be from September 1st, 2018 to March 1st, 2019. All applicants will receive a confirmation of submission, as well as with a decision by May 15th, 2019.

This year’s topic:

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” – Albert Einstein (1952)

What role has curiosity played in your life, and how has it affected your values and goals?

(if possible) be able to attend the Magical Evening 2019 event to receive the award.

For more information about this award, contact Hannah Christensen at hannahroo@shaw.caIf you’d like to receive a reminder when the application period open, email celebratejonah@shaw.ca with the subject line “Please remind me – Scholarship 2019” (or something to that effect).

The Selection Process:

All applicants will receive an email confirmation that we have received their application.

First Round – Qualification

Any applications that do not meet our requirements, for example if the applicant is not attending a post-secondary institution registered as a charity or did not answer the essay question, their application will be rejected.

Second Round – Shortlist

All eligible essays will be assigned a random number to avoid bias and the Scholarship Administrator, Hannah Christensen, will read all eligible essays and grade them based on the following criteria:

Creativity (/5)

Style and organization (/3)

Punctuation, grammar, spelling (/2)

Real world impact of activity described (/5)

A shortlist of 3 essays will be selected from this round.

Final Round – Selection

A final panel of the Christensen family and/or Celebrate the Child volunteers will read and discuss the final 3 essays selected in the Second Round, and determine the final winner. The winning essay’s randomly assigned number will be connected back to the applicant’s contact information and the winner will be contacted.